Eisteddfod singing competition gets prize boost

 

* Dr Rhys Davies, Llangollen International Musical

Eisteddfod chairman (right), with Mario Kreft and Ken Skates AM.

 

AN ICONIC competition to find the world's best young singers has been given a massive boost by a pioneering care organisation.

 

Pendine Park has agreed to more than triple the prize money up for grabs in the prestigious Voice of the Future competition at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

 

According to the festival's Musical Director, Eilir Owen Griffiths, increasing the annual prize to £5,000 from 2017 onwards will "catapult the competition into a whole new league".

 

He said: "This is a truly remarkable gesture which will lead to a big surge in interest for new vocal talent.

 

"The timing is especially appropriate as we will be celebrating our 70th anniversary in 2017 and looking forward to an even brighter future.

 

The announcement about Pendine Park's sizeable financial contribution was made by Ken Skates, the Welsh Government’s Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism.

 

Mr Skates, the Clwyd South AM, said: “It’s a fantastic, incredibly generous investment by a very well-respected and responsible employer.

 

“I believe that in Wales we need to have what I call the 'Martini arts' because they are available any time, any place and anywhere.

 

“Pendine is helping to deliver this in a social care setting, and I toast their success.”

 

Voice of the Future is one of the main highlights of the International Eisteddfod, which each year attracts competitors and visitors from across the globe.

 

The competition is open to young soloists under the age of 28 and the prize money – now up from £1,500 to £5,000 thanks to Pendine Park– is intended to help them advance their professional career.

 

The prize also includes the chance to perform at future festival concerts.

 

During the two-day competition, singers are required to deliver a contrasting programme of up to eight minutes of music, including oratorio, opera, lieder and song, performed in its original language.

 

In the final competitors must present a programme of music lasting up to 10 minutes.

 

Eirlys Myfanwy Davies, winner of the Voice of the Future title in 2014, will share the stage with opera legend Bryn Terfel when he stars at a glittering evening concert on July 7.

 

The concert marking the Eisteddfod’s 70^th is also being sponsored by Pendine Park and will also star the supremely talented Maltese opera colleague Joseph Calleja whose voice has been compared to the legendary Caruso.

 

Pendine proprietor Mario Kreft said after the announcement of the £5,000 prize: "The ethos of the Eisteddfod chimes perfectly with what my wife, Gill, and I are doing at Pendine Park.

 

“I firmly believe in the vital role played by music and arts in social care and as part of our enrichment programme for people with dementia we regularly have world-class musicians from the Hallé orchestra and Welsh National Opera as part of our enrichment workshops and staff training and development programme.

 

“For some years now we have supported evening concerts at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod and we want to provide further impetus to this unique festival and the Voice of the Future Competition in particular by increasing the prize money available to the winner."

 

He added: “The message of the Eisteddfod about the importance of peace and harmony is as relevant today as it's ever been.

 

"We're absolutely delighted to be giving this extra support to the Eisteddfod as  on Children’s Day at last year’s festival we will never forget seeing over 800 young people from local schools taking part in music workshops we hosted with members of the Welsh National Opera.

 

“As Terry Waite, who is President of the Eisteddfod, has often said, there is nothing more important than giving good memories to young people."

 

Eisteddfod Musical Director, Eilir Owen Griffiths, said: “It’s fantastic that Pendine Park is continuing its support for the festival by offering this £5,000 prize money for Voice of the Future after previously sponsoring our evening concerts.

 

“I know the difference this money will make in drawing in a much larger number of applications for this competition.

 

“I previously ran a similar competition in another part of Wales and when the prize money was increased the number of applications actually tripled."

 

Festival chairman Dr Rhys Davies added: “This is an extraordinarily generous contribution from Pendine Park and the prize money on offer will help to support the training of the young singer who is chosen as the winner.

 

“The competition is equally important is providing a stage for the singing stars of tomorrow and that is why it was created.” 

County claims £800k in office savings

Denbighshire County Council says it has saved over £800,000 of public funds over the past five years by rationalising its office space and encouraging staff to work more flexibly.

In 2010, council staff worked from 10 main buildings located across the county.

However, the council has implemented a programme to modernise the way it works that has involved relocating staff, desk sharing and encouraging home working.

As a direct result, the council has reduced its main buildings down to four – making a recurring saving of £273,000 a year from its budget.

In the last five years the Middle Lane site and industrial units in Denbigh, Fronfraith in Rhyl, Ty-Nant offices in Prestatyn as well as Clwyd Street and Trem Clwyd in Ruthin have been removed from the corporate office accommodation portfolio. 

All staff who previously worked from the now closed offices have been relocated to existing council buildings.

In addition to the annual savings local taxpayers have also benefitted from the £875,000 sale of two of the empty buildings, says the authority.

Councillor Barbara Smith, Cabinet Lead Member for Modernisation and Housing, said: “The Council has made a commitment in its corporate plan to modernise the way it works.

“This approach to rationalising the number of office buildings is great news for local residents, as it means that we have been able to make substantial savings that have been used to protect valuable front line services to the public.

“We have encouraged staff to use less space, developed open plan office environments and introduced work practices that allow staff to work from a variety of locations, rather than being fixed to their desks.

“The environment has also benefitted with CO2 omissions reducing by almost 400 tonnes per year."

The council claims further plans in the pipeline to rationalise the space it uses for the purposes of office accommodation will save a further £250,000 a year.

Networking event planned for Pavilion

A networking event called a Taste for Local will be held at Llangollen Pavilion on March 9.

Taking place from mid-morning to early afternoon, it is an opportunity to promote and highlight the wide range of Denbighshire producers to each other and potential buyers such as hoteliers, B&Bs, Retailers, restaurants & Cafes. With key guest speakers.

Powerful panto turns Pavilion into wonderland

* The cast of Alice in Wonderland lines up.

THE Pavilion stage has been transformed into an all-singing, all-dancing wonderland for Llangollen Pantomime Group’s latest production.

It might have been cold outside, but last night’s crowd were thoroughly warmed by the antics of a large and talented cast ranging from dancing tiny tots to wise-cracking and singing grown-ups.

Alice in Wonderland, of course, follows a dreamy girl of that name through an action-packed odyssey in which she encounters the likes of a time-conscious White Rabbit and the deliciously barmy Mad Hatter and March Hare.

The larger version of Alice is played neatly by Serena Young, who is quite an accomplished singer and actor, and the smaller version (for fitting through small doors etc) by a handy Celyn-Orton Jones.

There’s a nice cameo from Seren Decourt as the eternally late bunny and, in terms of vocal power and sheer zest, Llan panto veteran Jo Potts is outstanding as the Mad Hatter complete with oversized headgear. Tessa Orton-Jones makes a superb March Hare with those big floppy ears and pronounced Welsh accent.

Another real star of the show is Noel the Cat, Alice’s feline guide, gloriously portrayed by Neil Barrett in the style of Manc Oasis star Noel Gallagher and who is constantly “up fer it!”

Every panto needs a villain but in this one there’s two – the Queen of Hearts, a hissingly good and big-voiced Justine Bradey, and the Ace of Spades, a bitingly beastly Nico Decourt.

There ain’t nothing like a dame when it comes to pantos and ours was fortunate to have Simon Orton-Jones filling – and I do mean filling – that role with aplomb.

There are further nice turns from young Eve Barrett and Millie Orton-Jones as, respectively, the comedy double act Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. And Harvey Barrett, who is a handy Dormouse, proves he’s a Llan panto star in the making.

Another audience favourite is Jo Pearson doing a bit of gender bending to play the King of Hearts.

Sets, with their large moving picture backdrop, are brilliant as are the costumes.

Helping to make this production a hit are the well-chosen – and thankfully up-to-date - pop songs and funky dance routines that lavishly intersperse it, all marvellously backed by a great five-piece band.

The whole feel-good experience is a credit to co-directors Justine Bradey and Nico Decourt and producer Simon Orton-Jones.

Alice in Wonderland still has a couple of shows left, so catch it if you can today or tomorrow.

Tickets: Thursday, £6 and £4, other times, £8 and £6.

Tickets are available from Jades Beauty, Llangollen or Gwyn Davies (Butchers), Llangollen. You can also reserve tickets by calling 01978 860297.

Work goes ahead on canal leak

The Canal & River Trust is currently carrying out working repair work on a stretch of the canal near Llangollen Wharf.

A spokesperson said: "We’re carrying out repairs to a heritage stone wall that is in a poor condition and has been leaking onto the embankment. 

"We are taking the wall down and re-building it using heritage techniques working with CADW. 

"The work will be on-going till the end of January."

* Men at work on the canal near the Wharf. Picture by Mike Edwards.

Corwen residents to get feedback from questionnaire

Residents in Corwen have had their say on community life through completing a questionnaire – now the results will be fed back through an event for the local community.

 

The ‘Caru Corwen’  event will feed back to the community what has been learnt about Corwen and its residents through the pilot People to People project, an initiative by the Denbighshire Strategic Partnership Board.

 

Questionnaires were distributed in hard copies and promoted on social media, asking residents what they value about their community and what they may need to improve their community.  This offered the chance to share ideas on how the community can face challenges together and thrive.

 

Feedback was received on a wide range of issues, including facilities, activities, transport, education, local amenities.

 

The drop -in feedback event will take place at Canolfan Ni, Corwen on Monday, 25 January between 11am and 7pm.

 

A number of organisations will be on hand throughout the day to discuss projects and activities they have going on in Corwen that residents may be interested in taking part in or volunteering for.

 

A minibus service will be available from Clawdd Poncen, Llygadog and Maesafallen, with collection times starting from Clawdd Poncen at 11am, 1.30pm, 4pm and 5.30pm. 

 

Another busy year for Tidy Town Team

Co-ordinator David Davies has sent in the annual report for Llangollen Tidy Town Team, which saw the organisation complete its tenth year of operation in 2015. We bring you this below ...

                
"Who back in 2006 would have envisaged the team still with a full programme of work ten years later?

With over 700 hours of volunteer effort in 2015 it brings our total worked since formation to  6,600  hours.

This year we have added two new ventures to our regular litter picking,  grass cutting, vegetation pruning, seat/bench renovating and assisting at the Town Christmas Festival.   

*Team members at work on a recent project. 

Firstly, we were the "keep the site tidy team” at the Food Festival weekend at the Pavilion and  secondly we accepted a challenge from the church to undertake a long term project to rejuvenate the much overgrown and neglected woodland adjacent to the cemetery between the river and the railway station.   

To facilitate this project a member of our team has been on a chain saw operation course and he is now fully certified. A number of trees have been felled, timber distributed and bonfires held. We have yet to perfect the art of achieving unburnt sausages.

We assisted at the official opening of the renovated Chain Bridge and a dedicated few of the team continue to earn much-needed funds for the group with their horse manure patrols along the canal towpath.  

We are also very grateful for support during the year received from Llangollen Town Council, DCC, Keep Wales Tidy, Horse Drawn Boats, Spar, Kenrick Motors and Courtyard Gifts.

Our year, however, ended on a sad note with sudden death of Tom Edwards, who had worked on the team tirelessly since the start in 2006.

To all the Team for their efforts and our supporters, thank you."